The present invention relates, in general, to a piezoelectric beam type sensor for measuring the positions of objects, such as integrated circuit chipleads, and a method for making the same.
Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSI), such as memory circuits or microprocessors, are embodied in circuit chips which generally have many chipleads that are to be connected to a printed circuit board (PCB). In the assembly of the circuit chips to the PCB, the chips are placed on the board so that the chip leads are aligned with a plurality of soldering pads thereon. Sometimes, one or more of the chipleads may be bent such that they do not touch the soldering pads, which may result in a poor electrical or mechanical contact, if a contact is made at all. Obviously such bad connections degrade or even completely impair the operation of the electronic device of which the chips form a part.
In view of this, a device and technique is needed that can detect the position of the chipleads prior to the soldering operation so that any misaligned leads can be adjusted to be sure that properly soldered joints will be obtained.